Fast beam recovery using beam information in the measurement report

ABSTRACT

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide various techniques for beam recovery. For example, a method for wireless communication by a network entity may include providing configuration information to a user equipment (UE) indicating a sequence of target beams and timing information to try each target beam in the sequence, and attempting to communicate with the UE using one or more of the target beams according to the timing information, in response to a beam failure.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY UNDER 35 U.S.C. § 119

The present Application for Patent claims benefit of U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 62/403,468, filed Oct. 3, 2016, assigned tothe assignee hereof and hereby expressly incorporated by referenceherein.

BACKGROUND Field of the Disclosure

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wirelesscommunications systems, and more particularly, to supportingbeamforming.

Description of Related Art

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide varioustelecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging,and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employmultiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication withmultiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth,transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access technologies includeLong Term Evolution (LTE) systems, code division multiple access (CDMA)systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequencydivision multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency divisionmultiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency divisionmultiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous codedivision multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

In some examples, a wireless multiple-access communication system mayinclude a number of base stations, each simultaneously supportingcommunication for multiple communication devices, otherwise known asuser equipment (UEs). In LTE or LTE-A network, a set of one or more basestations may define an e NodeB (eNB). In other examples (e.g., in a nextgeneration or 5G network), a wireless multiple access communicationsystem may include a number of distributed units (DUs) (e.g., edge units(EUs), edge nodes (ENs), radio heads (RHs), smart radio heads (SRHs),transmission reception points (TRPs), etc.) in communication with anumber of central units (CUs) (e.g., central nodes (CNs), access nodecontrollers (ANCs), etc.), where a set of one or more distributed units,in communication with a central unit, may define an access node (e.g., anew radio base station (NR BS), a new radio node-B (NR NB), a networknode, 5G NB, gNB, etc.). A base station or DU may communicate with a setof UEs on downlink channels (e.g., for transmissions from a base stationor to a UE) and uplink channels (e.g., for transmissions from a UE to abase station or distributed unit).

These multiple access technologies have been adopted in varioustelecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enablesdifferent wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national,regional, and even global level. An example of an emergingtelecommunication standard is new radio (NR), for example, 5G radioaccess. NR is a set of enhancements to the LTE mobile standardpromulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). It isdesigned to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improvingspectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use ofnew spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards usingOFDMA with a cyclic prefix (CP) on the downlink (DL) and on the uplink(UL) as well as support beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation.

However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues toincrease, there exists a need for further improvements in NR technology.Preferably, these improvements should be applicable to othermulti-access technologies and the telecommunication standards thatemploy these technologies.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The systems, methods, and devices of the disclosure each have severalaspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirableattributes. Without limiting the scope of this disclosure as expressedby the claims which follow, some features will now be discussed briefly.After considering this discussion, and particularly after reading thesection entitled “Detailed Description” one will understand how thefeatures of this disclosure provide advantages that include improvedcommunications between access points and stations in a wireless network.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to techniquesfor beam recovery using beam information in a measurement report.

Aspects generally include methods, apparatus, systems, computer readablemediums, and processing systems, as substantially described herein withreference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

Certain aspects provide a method for wireless communication by a networkentity. The method generally includes providing configurationinformation to a user equipment (UE) indicating a sequence of targetbeams and timing information to try each target beam in the sequence oftarget beams, and attempting to communicate with the UE using one ormore of the target beams according to the timing information, inresponse to a beam failure

Certain aspects provide a method for wireless communication by a userequipment (UE). The method generally includes receiving configurationinformation from a network entity indicating a sequence of target beamsand timing information to try each target beam in the sequence of targetbeams, and attempting to communicate with the network entity using oneor more of the target beams according to the timing information, inresponse to a beam failure.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or moreaspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims. The following description andthe annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative featuresof the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, ofbut a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspectsmay be employed, and this description is intended to include all suchaspects and their equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above-recited features of the presentdisclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description,briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to aspects, some ofwhich are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted,however, that the appended drawings illustrate only certain typicalaspects of this disclosure and are therefore not to be consideredlimiting of its scope, for the description may admit to other equallyeffective aspects.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an exampletelecommunications system, in accordance with certain aspects of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example logical architectureof a distributed RAN, in accordance with certain aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example physical architecture of adistributed RAN, in accordance with certain aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating a design of anexample BS and user equipment (UE), in accordance with certain aspectsof the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing examples for implementing a communicationprotocol stack, in accordance with certain aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a DL-centric subframe, in accordancewith certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of an UL-centric subframe, in accordancewith certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a wireless communication systemsupporting zones, in accordance with certain aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 9 illustrates example beamformed communications, in accordance withcertain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 illustrates example operations for wireless communications by anetwork entity, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 illustrates example operations for wireless communications by auser equipment (UE), in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have beenused, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common tothe figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one aspectmay be beneficially utilized on other aspects without specificrecitation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processingsystems, and computer readable mediums for operations that may beperformed in new radio (NR) applications (new radio access technology or5G technology).

NR may support various wireless communication services, such as Enhancedmobile broadband (eMBB) targeting wide bandwidth (e.g. 80 MHz beyond),millimeter wave (mmW) targeting high carrier frequency (e.g. 60 GHz),massive MTC (mMTC) targeting non-backward compatible MTC techniques,and/or mission critical targeting ultra reliable low latencycommunications (URLLC). These services may include latency andreliability requirements. These services may also have differenttransmission time intervals (TTI) to meet respective quality of service(QoS) requirements. In addition, these services may co-exist in the samesubframe.

Beam sweeping, tracking and recovery are considered in the NRenhancements of 3GPP. These may be of particular importance for mmWaspects. Aspects of the present disclosure provide various techniquesthat may help achieve fast beam recovery. As used herein, beam recoverygenerally refers to the process of a base station (e.g., eNB) and userequipment (UE) achieving alignment (or synchronization) regarding whatbeams (or beam pairs) to use after losing such alignment. Suchmisalignment may occur, for example, if a base station sends a beamswitch signal that is not acknowledged by the UE.

The following description provides examples, and is not limiting of thescope, applicability, or examples set forth in the claims. Changes maybe made in the function and arrangement of elements discussed withoutdeparting from the scope of the disclosure. Various examples may omit,substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. Forinstance, the methods described may be performed in an order differentfrom that described, and various steps may be added, omitted, orcombined. Also, features described with respect to some examples may becombined in some other examples. For example, an apparatus may beimplemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspectsset forth herein. In addition, the scope of the disclosure is intendedto cover such an apparatus or method which is practiced using otherstructure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition toor other than the various aspects of the disclosure set forth herein. Itshould be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed hereinmay be embodied by one or more elements of a claim. The word “exemplary”is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, orillustration.” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” is notnecessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over otheraspects.

The techniques described herein may be used for various wirelesscommunication networks such as LTE, CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA andother networks. The terms “network” and “system” are often usedinterchangeably. A CDMA network may implement a radio technology such asUniversal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includesWideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. cdma2000 coversIS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA network may implement aradio technology such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM).An OFDMA network may implement a radio technology such as NR (e.g. 5GRA), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11(Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDMA, etc. UTRA andE-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). NRis an emerging wireless communications technology under development inconjunction with the 5G Technology Forum (5GTF). 3GPP Long TermEvolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) are releases of UMTS that useE-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A and GSM are described indocuments from an organization named “3rd Generation PartnershipProject” (3GPP). cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from anorganization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2). Thetechniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks andradio technologies mentioned above as well as other wireless networksand radio technologies. For clarity, while aspects may be describedherein using terminology commonly associated with 3G and/or 4G wirelesstechnologies, aspects of the present disclosure can be applied in othergeneration-based communication systems, such as 5G and later, includingNR technologies.

Example Wireless Communications System

FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network 100 in which aspects ofthe present disclosure may be performed. For example, the wirelessnetwork may be a new radio (NR) or 5G network.

According to aspects of the present disclosure, one or more basestations 110 and UEs 120 may communicate using beamforming. Aspects ofthe present disclosure provide various appropriate frame structures,sweep sequences, and procedures that may assist in beam sweeping,tracking and recovery to improve communication using beamforming.

As will be described in more detail herein, a UE may be in a zoneincluding a serving TRP and one or more non-serving TRPs. The servingand non-serving TRPs may be managed by the same ANC (see e.g., ANC 202managing three TRPs 208 in FIG. 2). In certain scenarios, the UE maywake up to perform cell searches to enhance decoding of paging messages.For example, performing a cell search prior to decoding a paging messagemay allow the UE to select a strongest cell (e.g., identified in thecell search).

According to aspects for supporting UL mobility without zone signals, aUE may transmit a first UL chirp signal. The UE may receive a keep alive(KA) signal, in response to the first chirp signal. The KA may bereceived in a first wake period of a discontinuous receive (DRx) cycle.The UE may transmit a second chirp signal using information determinedfrom the KA signal. Thus, the UE may transmit a second chirp signalwithout the use of a DL zone synchronization signals. Advantageously,the UE may use information from the KA signal (and in information from azone signal) to transmit a subsequent chirp signal. For example, the UEmay determine a transmit power (for open loop power control) based onthe KA. According to another example, the UE may decode a power controlfield in the KA and transmit the second chirp signal based, at least inpart on decoded power control information.

UEs 120 may be configured to perform the operations 1100 and othermethods described herein and discussed in more detail below which mayhelp improve DL-based mobility. Base station (BS) 110 may comprise atransmission reception point (TRP), Node B (NB), 5G NB, access point(AP), new radio (NR) BS, etc.). The NR network 100 may include thecentral unit.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the wireless network 100 may include a numberof BSs 110 and other network entities. A BS may be a station thatcommunicates with UEs. Each BS 110 may provide communication coveragefor a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term “cell” can refer toa coverage area of a Node B and/or a Node B subsystem serving thiscoverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In NRsystems, the term “cell” and gNB, Node B, 5G NB, AP, NR BS, NR BS, orTRP may be interchangeable. In some examples, a cell may not necessarilybe stationary, and the geographic area of the cell may move according tothe location of a mobile base station. In some examples, the basestations may be interconnected to one another and/or to one or moreother base stations or network nodes (not shown) in the wireless network100 through various types of backhaul interfaces such as a directphysical connection, a virtual network, or the like using any suitabletransport network.

In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a givengeographic area. Each wireless network may support a particular radioaccess technology (RAT) and may operate on one or more frequencies. ARAT may also be referred to as a radio technology, an air interface,etc. A frequency may also be referred to as a carrier, a frequencychannel, etc. Each frequency may support a single RAT in a givengeographic area in order to avoid interference between wireless networksof different RATs. In some cases, NR or 5G RAT networks may be deployed.

A BS may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, afemto cell, and/or other types of cell. A macro cell may cover arelatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius)and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. Apico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allowunrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A femto cell maycover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may allowrestricted access by UEs having association with the femto cell (e.g.,UEs in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG), UEs for users in the home,etc.). A BS for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. A BS fora pico cell may be referred to as a pico BS. A BS for a femto cell maybe referred to as a femto BS or a home BS. In the example shown in FIG.1, the BSs 110 a, 110 b and 110 c may be macro BSs for the macro cells102 a, 102 b and 102 c, respectively. The BS 110 x may be a pico BS fora pico cell 102 x. The BSs 110 y and 110 z may be femto BS for the femtocells 102 y and 102 z, respectively. A BS may support one or multiple(e.g., three) cells.

The wireless network 100 may also include relay stations. A relaystation is a station that receives a transmission of data and/or otherinformation from an upstream station (e.g., a BS or a UE) and sends atransmission of the data and/or other information to a downstreamstation (e.g., a UE or a BS). A relay station may also be a UE thatrelays transmissions for other UEs. In the example shown in FIG. 1, arelay station 110 r may communicate with the BS 110 a and a UE 120 r inorder to facilitate communication between the BS 110 a and the UE 120 r.A relay station may also be referred to as a relay BS, a relay, etc.

The wireless network 100 may be a heterogeneous network that includesBSs of different types, e.g., macro BS, pico BS, femto BS, relays, etc.These different types of BSs may have different transmit power levels,different coverage areas, and different impact on interference in thewireless network 100. For example, macro BS may have a high transmitpower level (e.g., 20 Watts) whereas pico BS, femto BS, and relays mayhave a lower transmit power level (e.g., 1 Watt).

The wireless network 100 may support synchronous or asynchronousoperation. For synchronous operation, the BSs may have similar frametiming, and transmissions from different BSs may be approximatelyaligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the BSs may have differentframe timing, and transmissions from different BSs may not be aligned intime. The techniques described herein may be used for both synchronousand asynchronous operation.

A network controller 130 may couple to a set of BSs and providecoordination and control for these BSs. The network controller 130 maycommunicate with the BSs 110 via a backhaul. The BSs 110 may alsocommunicate with one another, e.g., directly or indirectly via wirelessor wireline backhaul.

The UEs 120 (e.g., 120 x, 120 y, etc.) may be dispersed throughout thewireless network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. A UE mayalso be referred to as a mobile station, a terminal, an access terminal,a subscriber unit, a station, a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), acellular phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), awireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, alaptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station,a tablet, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, anultrabook, a medical device or medical equipment, a biometricsensor/device, a wearable device such as a smart watch, smart clothing,smart glasses, a smart wrist band, smart jewelry (e.g., a smart ring, asmart bracelet, etc.), an entertainment device (e.g., a music device, avideo device, a satellite radio, etc.), a vehicular component or sensor,a smart meter/sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, a globalpositioning system device, or any other suitable device that isconfigured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium. Some UEs maybe considered evolved or machine-type communication (MTC) devices orevolved MTC (eMTC) devices. MTC and eMTC UEs include, for example,robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, locationtags, etc., that may communicate with a BS, another device (e.g., remotedevice), or some other entity. A wireless node may provide, for example,connectivity for or to a network (e.g., a wide area network such asInternet or a cellular network) via a wired or wireless communicationlink. Some UEs may be considered Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices.

In FIG. 1, a solid line with double arrows indicates desiredtransmissions between a UE and a serving BS, which is a BS designated toserve the UE on the downlink and/or uplink. A dashed line with doublearrows indicates interfering transmissions between a UE and a BS.

Certain wireless networks (e.g., LTE) utilize orthogonal frequencydivision multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and single-carrierfrequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDMpartition the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers,which are also commonly referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarriermay be modulated with data. In general, modulation symbols are sent inthe frequency domain with OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. Thespacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total numberof subcarriers (K) may be dependent on the system bandwidth. Forexample, the spacing of the subcarriers may be 15 kHz and the minimumresource allocation (called a ‘resource block’) may be 12 subcarriers(or 180 kHz). Consequently, the nominal FFT size may be equal to 128,256, 512, 1024 or 2048 for system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10 or 20megahertz (MHz), respectively. The system bandwidth may also bepartitioned into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08 MHz(i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 subbandsfor system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10 or 20 MHz, respectively.

While aspects of the examples described herein may be associated withLTE technologies, aspects of the present disclosure may be applicablewith other wireless communications systems, such as NR.

NR may utilize OFDM with a CP on the uplink and downlink and includesupport for half-duplex operation using TDD. A single component carrierbandwidth of 100 MHz may be supported. NR resource blocks may span 12sub-carriers with a subcarrier bandwidth of 75 kHz over a 0.1 msduration. Each radio frame may consist of 50 subframes with a length of10 ms. Consequently, each subframe may have a length of 0.2 ms. Eachsubframe may indicate a link direction (i.e., DL or UL) for datatransmission and the link direction for each subframe may be dynamicallyswitched. Each subframe may include DL/UL data as well as DL/UL controldata. UL and DL subframes for NR may be as described in more detailbelow with respect to FIGS. 6 and 7. Beamforming may be supported andbeam direction may be dynamically configured. MIMO transmissions withprecoding may also be supported. MIMO configurations in the DL maysupport up to 8 transmit antennas with multi-layer DL transmissions upto 8 streams and up to 2 streams per UE. Multi-layer transmissions withup to 2 streams per UE may be supported. Aggregation of multiple cellsmay be supported with up to 8 serving cells. Alternatively, NR maysupport a different air interface, other than an OFDM-based. NR networksmay include entities such CUs and/or DUs.

In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled, whereina scheduling entity (e.g., a base station) allocates resources forcommunication among some or all devices and equipment within its servicearea or cell. Within the present disclosure, as discussed further below,the scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, assigning,reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more subordinateentities. That is, for scheduled communication, subordinate entitiesutilize resources allocated by the scheduling entity. Base stations arenot the only entities that may function as a scheduling entity. That is,in some examples, a UE may function as a scheduling entity, schedulingresources for one or more subordinate entities (e.g., one or more otherUEs). In this example, the UE is functioning as a scheduling entity, andother UEs utilize resources scheduled by the UE for wirelesscommunication. A UE may function as a scheduling entity in apeer-to-peer (P2P) network, and/or in a mesh network. In a mesh networkexample, UEs may optionally communicate directly with one another inaddition to communicating with the scheduling entity.

Thus, in a wireless communication network with a scheduled access totime-frequency resources and having a cellular configuration, a P2Pconfiguration, and a mesh configuration, a scheduling entity and one ormore subordinate entities may communicate utilizing the scheduledresources.

As noted above, a RAN may include a CU and DUs. A NR BS (e.g., gNB, 5GNode B, Node B, transmission reception point (TRP), access point (AP))may correspond to one or multiple BSs. NR cells can be configured asaccess cell (ACells) or data only cells (DCells). For example, the RAN(e.g., a central unit or distributed unit) can configure the cells.DCells may be cells used for carrier aggregation or dual connectivity,but not used for initial access, cell selection/reselection, orhandover. In some cases DCells may not transmit synchronizationsignals—in some case cases DCells may transmit SS. NR BSs may transmitdownlink signals to UEs indicating the cell type. Based on the cell typeindication, the UE may communicate with the NR BS. For example, the UEmay determine NR BSs to consider for cell selection, access, handover,and/or measurement based on the indicated cell type.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example logical architecture of a distributedradio access network (RAN) 200, which may be implemented in the wirelesscommunication system illustrated in FIG. 1. A 5G access node 206 mayinclude an access node controller (ANC) 202. The ANC may be a centralunit (CU) of the distributed RAN 200. The backhaul interface to the nextgeneration core network (NG-CN) 204 may terminate at the ANC. Thebackhaul interface to neighboring next generation access nodes (NG-ANs)may terminate at the ANC. The ANC may include one or more TRPs 208(which may also be referred to as BSs, NR BSs, Node Bs, 5G NBs, APs, orsome other term). As described above, a TRP may be used interchangeablywith “cell.”

The TRPs 208 may be a DU. The TRPs may be connected to one ANC (ANC 202)or more than one ANC (not illustrated). For example, for RAN sharing,radio as a service (RaaS), and service specific AND deployments, the TRPmay be connected to more than one ANC. A TRP may include one or moreantenna ports. The TRPs may be configured to individually (e.g., dynamicselection) or jointly (e.g., joint transmission) serve traffic to a UE.

The local architecture 200 may be used to illustrate fronthauldefinition. The architecture may be defined that support fronthaulingsolutions across different deployment types. For example, thearchitecture may be based on transmit network capabilities (e.g.,bandwidth, latency, and/or jitter).

The architecture may share features and/or components with LTE.According to aspects, the next generation AN (NG-AN) 210 may supportdual connectivity with NR. The NG-AN may share a common fronthaul forLTE and NR.

The architecture may enable cooperation between and among TRPs 208. Forexample, cooperation may be preset within a TRP and/or across TRPs viathe ANC 202. According to aspects, no inter-TRP interface may beneeded/present.

According to aspects, a dynamic configuration of split logical functionsmay be present within the architecture 200. As will be described in moredetail with reference to FIG. 5, the Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer,Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, Radio Link Control (RLC)layer, Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, and a Physical (PHY) layersmay be adaptably placed at the DU or CU (e.g., TRP or ANC,respectively). According to certain aspects, a BS may include a centralunit (CU) (e.g., ANC 202) and/or one or more distributed units (e.g.,one or more TRPs 208).

FIG. 3 illustrates an example physical architecture of a distributed RAN300, according to aspects of the present disclosure. A centralized corenetwork unit (C-CU) 302 may host core network functions. The C-CU may becentrally deployed. C-CU functionality may be offloaded (e.g., toadvanced wireless services (AWS)), in an effort to handle peak capacity.

A centralized RAN unit (C-RU) 304 may host one or more ANC functions.Optionally, the C-RU may host core network functions locally. The C-RUmay have distributed deployment. The C-RU may be closer to the networkedge.

A DU 306 may host one or more TRPs (edge node (EN), an edge unit (EU), aradio head (RH), a smart radio head (SRH), or the like). The DU may belocated at edges of the network with radio frequency (RF) functionality.

FIG. 4 illustrates example components of the BS 110 and UE 120illustrated in FIG. 1, which may be used to implement aspects of thepresent disclosure. For example, UE 120 and BS 110 may be configured toperform beam sweeping, tracking and recovery using the frame structures,sweep sequences, and procedures described herein (e.g., with referenceto FIGS. 9a-9d ).

As described above, the BS may include a TRP. One or more components ofthe BS 110 and UE 120 may be used to practice aspects of the presentdisclosure. For example, antennas 452, Tx/Rx 222, processors 466, 458,464, and/or controller/processor 480 of the UE 120 and/or antennas 434,processors 460, 420, 438, and/or controller/processor 440 of the BS 110may be used to perform the operations described herein and illustratedwith reference to FIGS. 10-12.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a design of a BS 110 and a UE 120, whichmay be one of the BSs and one of the UEs in FIG. 1. For a restrictedassociation scenario, the base station 110 may be the macro BS 110 c inFIG. 1, and the UE 120 may be the UE 120 y. The base station 110 mayalso be a base station of some other type. The base station 110 may beequipped with antennas 434 a through 434 t, and the UE 120 may beequipped with antennas 452 a through 452 r.

At the base station 110, a transmit processor 420 may receive data froma data source 412 and control information from a controller/processor440. The control information may be for the Physical Broadcast Channel(PBCH), Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH), PhysicalHybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH), Physical Downlink Control Channel(PDCCH), etc. The data may be for the Physical Downlink Shared Channel(PDSCH), etc. The processor 420 may process (e.g., encode and symbolmap) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and controlsymbols, respectively. The processor 420 may also generate referencesymbols, e.g., for a primary synchronization signal (PSS), primarysynchronization signal (SSS), and cell-specific reference signal. Atransmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 430 mayperform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, thecontrol symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and mayprovide output symbol streams to the modulators (MODs) 432 a through 432t. Each modulator 432 may process a respective output symbol stream(e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator432 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, andupconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal.Downlink signals from modulators 432 a through 432 t may be transmittedvia the antennas 434 a through 434 t, respectively.

At the UE 120, the antennas 452 a through 452 r may receive the downlinksignals from the base station 110 and may provide received signals tothe demodulators (DEMODs) 454 a through 454 r, respectively. Eachdemodulator 454 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, anddigitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Eachdemodulator 454 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM,etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 456 may obtainreceived symbols from all the demodulators 454 a through 454 r, performMIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and providedetected symbols. A receive processor 458 may process (e.g., demodulate,deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data forthe UE 120 to a data sink 460, and provide decoded control informationto a controller/processor 480.

On the uplink, at the UE 120, a transmit processor 464 may receive andprocess data (e.g., for the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)) froma data source 462 and control information (e.g., for the Physical UplinkControl Channel (PUCCH) from the controller/processor 480. The transmitprocessor 464 may also generate reference symbols for a referencesignal. The symbols from the transmit processor 464 may be precoded by aTX MIMO processor 466 if applicable, further processed by thedemodulators 454 a through 454 r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), andtransmitted to the base station 110. At the BS 110, the uplink signalsfrom the UE 120 may be received by the antennas 434, processed by themodulators 432, detected by a MIMO detector 436 if applicable, andfurther processed by a receive processor 438 to obtain decoded data andcontrol information sent by the UE 120. The receive processor 438 mayprovide the decoded data to a data sink 439 and the decoded controlinformation to the controller/processor 440.

The controllers/processors 440 and 480 may direct the operation at thebase station 110 and the UE 120, respectively. The processor 440 and/orother processors and modules at the base station 110 may perform ordirect, e.g., the execution of the functional blocks illustrated in FIG.12, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.processes for the techniques described herein. The processor 480 and/orother processors and modules at the UE 120 may also perform or direct,e.g., the execution of the functional blocks illustrated in FIGS. 10 and11, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. Thememories 442 and 482 may store data and program codes for the BS 110 andthe UE 120, respectively. A scheduler 444 may schedule UEs for datatransmission on the downlink and/or uplink.

FIG. 5 illustrates a diagram 500 showing examples for implementing acommunications protocol stack, according to aspects of the presentdisclosure. The illustrated communications protocol stacks may beimplemented by devices operating in a in a 5G system (e.g., a systemthat supports uplink-based mobility). Diagram 500 illustrates acommunications protocol stack including a Radio Resource Control (RRC)layer 510, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer 515, a RadioLink Control (RLC) layer 520, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer 525,and a Physical (PHY) layer 530. In various examples the layers of aprotocol stack may be implemented as separate modules of software,portions of a processor or ASIC, portions of non-collocated devicesconnected by a communications link, or various combinations thereof.Collocated and non-collocated implementations may be used, for example,in a protocol stack for a network access device (e.g., ANs, CUs, and/orDUs) or a UE.

A first option 505-a shows a split implementation of a protocol stack,in which implementation of the protocol stack is split between acentralized network access device (e.g., an ANC 202 in FIG. 2) anddistributed network access device (e.g., DU 208 in FIG. 2). In the firstoption 505-a, an RRC layer 510 and a PDCP layer 515 may be implementedby the central unit, and an RLC layer 520, a MAC layer 525, and a PHYlayer 530 may be implemented by the DU. In various examples the CU andthe DU may be collocated or non-collocated. The first option 505-a maybe useful in a macro cell, micro cell, or pico cell deployment.

A second option 505-b shows a unified implementation of a protocolstack, in which the protocol stack is implemented in a single networkaccess device (e.g., access node (AN), new radio base station (NR BS), anew radio Node-B (NR NB), a network node (NN), or the like.). In thesecond option, the RRC layer 510, the PDCP layer 515, the RLC layer 520,the MAC layer 525, and the PHY layer 530 may each be implemented by theAN. The second option 505-b may be useful in a femto cell deployment.

Regardless of whether a network access device implements part or all ofa protocol stack, a UE may implement an entire protocol stack (e.g., theRRC layer 510, the PDCP layer 515, the RLC layer 520, the MAC layer 525,and the PHY layer 530).

FIG. 6 is a diagram 600 showing an example of a DL-centric subframe. TheDL-centric subframe may include a control portion 602. The controlportion 602 may exist in the initial or beginning portion of theDL-centric subframe. The control portion 602 may include variousscheduling information and/or control information corresponding tovarious portions of the DL-centric subframe. In some configurations, thecontrol portion 602 may be a physical DL control channel (PDCCH), asindicated in FIG. 6. The DL-centric subframe may also include a DL dataportion 604. The DL data portion 604 may sometimes be referred to as thepayload of the DL-centric subframe. The DL data portion 604 may includethe communication resources utilized to communicate DL data from thescheduling entity (e.g., UE or BS) to the subordinate entity (e.g., UE).In some configurations, the DL data portion 604 may be a physical DLshared channel (PDSCH).

The DL-centric subframe may also include a common UL portion 606. Thecommon UL portion 606 may sometimes be referred to as an UL burst, acommon UL burst, and/or various other suitable terms. The common ULportion 606 may include feedback information corresponding to variousother portions of the DL-centric subframe. For example, the common ULportion 606 may include feedback information corresponding to thecontrol portion 602. Non-limiting examples of feedback information mayinclude an ACK signal, a NACK signal, a HARQ indicator, and/or variousother suitable types of information. The common UL portion 606 mayinclude additional or alternative information, such as informationpertaining to random access channel (RACH) procedures, schedulingrequests (SRs), and various other suitable types of information. Asillustrated in FIG. 6, the end of the DL data portion 604 may beseparated in time from the beginning of the common UL portion 606. Thistime separation may sometimes be referred to as a gap, a guard period, aguard interval, and/or various other suitable terms. This separationprovides time for the switch-over from DL communication (e.g., receptionoperation by the subordinate entity (e.g., UE)) to UL communication(e.g., transmission by the subordinate entity (e.g., UE)). One ofordinary skill in the art will understand that the foregoing is merelyone example of a DL-centric subframe and alternative structures havingsimilar features may exist without necessarily deviating from theaspects described herein.

FIG. 7 is a diagram 700 showing an example of an UL-centric subframe.The UL-centric subframe may include a control portion 702. The controlportion 702 may exist in the initial or beginning portion of theUL-centric subframe. The control portion 702 in FIG. 7 may be similar tothe control portion described above with reference to FIG. 6. TheUL-centric subframe may also include an UL data portion 704. The UL dataportion 704 may sometimes be referred to as the payload of theUL-centric subframe. The UL portion may refer to the communicationresources utilized to communicate UL data from the subordinate entity(e.g., UE) to the scheduling entity (e.g., UE or BS). In someconfigurations, the control portion 702 may be a physical downlink (DL)control channel (PDCCH).

As illustrated in FIG. 7, the end of the control portion 702 may beseparated in time from the beginning of the UL data portion 704. Thistime separation may sometimes be referred to as a gap, guard period,guard interval, and/or various other suitable terms. This separationprovides time for the switch-over from DL communication (e.g., receptionoperation by the scheduling entity) to UL communication (e.g.,transmission by the scheduling entity). The UL-centric subframe may alsoinclude a common UL portion 706. The common UL portion 706 in FIG. 7 maybe similar to the common UL portion 706 described above with referenceto FIG. 7. The common UL portion 706 may additional or alternativeinclude information pertaining to channel quality indicator (CQI),sounding reference signals (SRSs), and various other suitable types ofinformation. One of ordinary skill in the art will understand that theforegoing is merely one example of an UL-centric subframe andalternative structures having similar features may exist withoutnecessarily deviating from the aspects described herein. In one example,a frame may include both UL centric subframes and DL centric subframes.In this example, the ratio of UL centric subframes to DL subframes in aframe may be dynamically adjusted based on the amount of UL data and theamount of DL data that are transmitted. For example, if there is more ULdata, then the ratio of UL centric subframes to DL subframes may beincreased. Conversely, if there is more DL data, then the ratio of ULcentric subframes to DL subframes may be decreased.

In some circumstances, two or more subordinate entities (e.g., UEs) maycommunicate with each other using sidelink signals. Real-worldapplications of such sidelink communications may include public safety,proximity services, UE-to-network relaying, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V)communications, Internet of Everything (IoE) communications, IoTcommunications, mission-critical mesh, and/or various other suitableapplications. Generally, a sidelink signal may refer to a signalcommunicated from one subordinate entity (e.g., UE1) to anothersubordinate entity (e.g., UE2) without relaying that communicationthrough the scheduling entity (e.g., UE or BS), even though thescheduling entity may be utilized for scheduling and/or controlpurposes. In some examples, the sidelink signals may be communicatedusing a licensed spectrum (unlike wireless local area networks, whichtypically use an unlicensed spectrum).

A UE may operate in various radio resource configurations, including aconfiguration associated with transmitting pilots using a dedicated setof resources (e.g., a radio resource control (RRC) dedicated state,etc.) or a configuration associated with transmitting pilots using acommon set of resources (e.g., an RRC common state, etc.). Whenoperating in the RRC dedicated state, the UE may select a dedicated setof resources for transmitting a pilot signal to a network. Whenoperating in the RRC common state, the UE may select a common set ofresources for transmitting a pilot signal to the network. In eithercase, a pilot signal transmitted by the UE may be received by one ormore network access devices, such as an AN, or a DU, or portionsthereof. Each receiving network access device may be configured toreceive and measure pilot signals transmitted on the common set ofresources, and also receive and measure pilot signals transmitted ondedicated sets of resources allocated to the UEs for which the networkaccess device is a member of a monitoring set of network access devicesfor the UE. One or more of the receiving network access devices, or a CUto which receiving network access device(s) transmit the measurements ofthe pilot signals, may use the measurements to identify serving cellsfor the UEs, or to initiate a change of serving cell for one or more ofthe UEs.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a wireless communication system 800supporting a number of zones, in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure. The wireless communication system 800 may include a numberof zones (including, e.g., a first zone 805-a (Zone 1), a second zone805-b (Zone 2), and a third zone 805-c (Zone 3)). A number of UEs maymove within or between the zones.

A zone may include multiple cells, and the cells within a zone may besynchronized (e.g., the cells may share the same timing). Wirelesscommunication system 800 may include examples of both non-overlappingzones (e.g., the first zone 805-a and the second zone 805-b) andoverlapping zones (e.g., the first zone 805-a and the third zone 805-c).In some examples, the first zone 805-a and the second zone 805-b mayeach include one or more macro cells, micro cells, or pico cells, andthe third zone 805-c may include one or more femto cells.

By way of example, the UE 850 is shown to be located in the first zone805-a. If the UE 850 is operating with a radio resource configurationassociated with transmitting pilot signals using a common set ofresources, such as an RRC common state, the UE 850 may transmit a pilotsignal using a common set of resources. Cells (e.g., ANs, DUs, etc.)within the first zone 805-a may monitor the common set of resources fora pilot signal from the UE 850. If the UE 850 is operating with a radioresource configuration associated with transmitting pilot signals usinga dedicated set of resource, such as an RRC dedicated state, the UE 850may transmit a pilot signal using a dedicated set of resources. Cells ofa monitoring set of cells established for the UE 850 within the firstzone 805-a (e.g., a first cell 810-a, a second cell 810-b, and a thirdcell 810-c) may monitor the dedicated set of resources for the pilotsignal of the UE 850.

According to aspects of the present disclosure, the UE 850 performs oneor more operations without relying on a zone signal. For example, the UEmay perform an inter-zone handover using synchronization signalsassociated with a cell/TRP as opposed to a zone synchronization signal.

As described above, beam sweeping, tracking and recovery are consideredin the NR enhancements of 3GPP. These may be of particular importancefor mmW aspects. Aspects of the present disclosure provide varioustechniques that may help achieve fast beam recovery.

Beamforming generally refers to the use of multiple antennas to controlthe direction of a wavefront by appropriately weighting the magnitudeand phase of individual antenna signals (for transmit beamforming).Beamforming may result in enhanced coverage, as each antenna in thearray may make a contribution to the steered signal, and an array gain(or beamforming gain) is achieved. Receive beamforming makes it possibleto determine the direction that the wavefront will arrive (direction ofarrival, or DoA). It may also be possible to suppress selectedinterfering signals by applying a beam pattern null in the direction ofthe interfering signal.

Adaptive beamforming refers to the technique of continually applyingbeamforming to a moving receiver. Aspects of the present disclosure mayhelp improve beam recovery in systems that utilize adaptive beamforming.

For beam recovery, a beam acknowledgment report may be sent by the UE ifan eNB beam sweep is lost due to packet drop. Alternately, it may be thecase that either the eNB/UE side beams are lost either due to suddenblocking of dominant clusters/paths in the channel, UE mobility, etc. Insuch scenarios, quick recovery mechanisms may be implemented, in aneffort to ensure that the link is not lost irrevocably. For example, abeam sweep sequence that sequentially (rapidly) alternates throughavailable beam pairs may help a BS and UE settle on suitable pairquickly.

Example Fast Beam Recovery Using Beam Information in the MeasurementReport

One of the challenges presented in mmWave systems is that of high pathloss. To address these challenges, new techniques, such as hybridbeamforming (analog and digital), have been proposed. Hybrid beamformingutilizes relatively narrow beam patterns to enhance link budget/SNRbetween users.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example system 900, in which a base station (a NBin this example) and a UE communicate over active beams. Active beamsare NB and UE beam pairs that carry data and control channels such asPDSCH, PDCCH, PUSCH, and PUCCH. In the illustrated example, active beamNB-A1 carries data from the NB, active beam NB-A2 carries control, whileactive beam UE-A1 carries control and data from the UE.

In such a system, the NB may monitor (the performance/suitability of)active beams using reported measurements of signals such as MRS, CSI-RS,or SYNC. To do so, the NB may send a measurement request, for example, abeam state information request to the UE. In response, the UE maymeasure the measurement signals and send a report that containsfeedback, such as a beam id and corresponding beam quality.

After receiving the measurement report, the NB may signal a beam switchto the UE. The beam switch (request/command) may contain the target beamid and/or a time (e.g., in subframes, slots or mini-slots) to switch NBand/or UE beams.

As an alternative, the NB may transmit a beam switch (request/command)that may contain just a command to switch the beam without explicit beamID. At such a time when the NB signals a beam switch to the UE and theUE receives the signal, both the NB and UE may switch their beams.

After sending a beam switch signal to the UE, the NB may expect an ACKacknowledging the beam switch. If the NB does not receive the ACK, theUE and NB may be considered out of alignment, with respect to beams. Forexample, assuming an ACK is lost and the NB does not have resources tosend another beam switch command to the UE, then NB and UE may beconsidered misaligned.

A misalignment may cause the UE to trigger either a scheduling request(SR) or random access channel (RACH) procedure in an effort to achievebeam recovery. Both of these approaches, however, incur additional delayand resources.

Aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques that may helpachieve relatively fast beam recovery at the NB and UE. The techniquesmay involve signaling and corresponding action at both the NB and UEsides.

For example, according to one or more cases, on the NB side for fastbeam recovery, the NB may send a timer (e.g., T_SR and/or T_RACH), afterthe expiration of which the UE may start the SR and/or RACH procedurefor beam recovery. This timer may be sent over system information (SI)or via an RRC configuration message.

The NB may also configure the UE to take measurements and generate ameasurement report which the NB may then obtain from the UE. Themeasurement report may contain beam reference signal received power(RSRP) of multiple NB-UE beam pairs. For example, the report may includeRSRP for a first beam pair (e.g., NBbeam1-UEbeam1), a second beam pair(e.g., NBbeam2-UEbeam2), and the like.

The NB may send a beam switch signal based on the report. For example,in the beam switch signal, the NB may specify target beam id information(e.g., beamid_target) and a time to switch (e.g., time_tgt). Thebeamid_target, for example, may be one of the beams that were reportedin the measurement report.

According to certain aspects of the present disclosure, the NB may alsospecify explicitly a beam to use for fast-recovery and a time to tryfast-recovery. For example, if the beam and time specified in the beamswitch signal (beamid_target, time_tgt) fails, the UE may then try oneor more recovery beams (e.g., beamid_recover_1, time_recover_1,beamid_recover_2, time_recover_2, . . . ).

The recovery time information (time_recover_1, time_recover_2) may besignaled in different manners. For example, this information may beexplicitly indicated in the beam switch message, via RRC signaling, oras system information (SI). Similarly, the beam information may besignaled in different manners. For example, beamid_recover_1,beamid_recover_2, and the like, may be explicitly noted in the beamswitch message, via RRC signaling, or implicitly assumed via the orderin which these were reported in the measurement report. In some cases,during fast-recovery, the NB may send DL signals and wait for UE torespond on the UL (e.g., by sending SRS, ACK, or some other ULsignals.).

Upon the expiry of the timer (T_SR and/or T_RACH timers), the NB maywait for the UE to execute beam recovery procedure. The T_SR and T_RACHtimers may be configured as timers that count down from a reference timefor example, from the symbol where ACK was sent by UE.

On the UE side for fast beam recovery, the UE may receive the timerinformation (T_SR and/or T_RACH), after the expiration of which, the UEmay start the SR and/or RACH procedure for beam recovery. As notedabove, this information may be sent over SI or RRC configurationmessage.

Once the UE receives the beam switch message (e.g., in response to ameasurement report sent by the UE), the UE may send an ACK. After atime_target (e.g., as specified in the beam switch message), the UE mayswitch to the specified beam (e.g., beamid_target). If the UE does notreceive any DL signal from the NB, the UE may start a fast recoveryprocess.

According to the fast recovery process, the UE may set it's receive beamtowards a specified recovery direction (e.g., beamid_recover_1, forexample, using the same beamforming vector used during measurements andreporting) at a specified time (e.g., time_recover_1) and wait for theNB to send a DL message. If no DL signal is received, then the UE maychange beams, for example, setting its receive beam towardsbeamid_recover_2 at time_recover_2 and, again, wait for the NB to send aDL message. The UE may continue to cycle through recovery beams.

Upon the expiry of the T_SR timer, the UE will start the SR procedure.Similarly, upon the expiry of the T_RACH time, the UE may start the RACHprocedure. As noted above, T_SR and T_RACH are timers that count downfrom the symbol where ACK was sent by UE.

However, by providing for a fast beam recovery process, a NB and UE maybe able to achieve beam recovery before expiration of the T_SR and/orTRACH timer. Achieving beam recovery without having to perform SR orRACH procedures may help improve performance.

For example, FIG. 10 illustrates example operations 1000 for wirelesscommunications by a network entity, in accordance with aspects of thepresent disclosure.

Specifically, operations 1000 begin, at 1002, with providingconfiguration information to a user equipment (UE) indicating a sequenceof target beams and timing information to try each target beam in thesequence of target beams. Further, operations 1000 also include, at1004, attempting to communicate with the UE using one or more of thetarget beams according to the timing information, in response to a beamfailure.

In accordance with one or more cases, a signal quality of one or more RSconfigured by the network, in either DL or UL, may fall below athreshold over a period of time. This event may be defined as a beamfailure event. Further, a beam failure event may be defined moregenerally as a failure to receive a response for a DL or UL, data orcontrol transmission.

FIG. 11 illustrates example operations 1100 for wireless communicationsby a user equipment (UE), in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

Specifically, operations 1100 begin, at 1102, with receivingconfiguration information from a network entity indicating a sequence oftarget beams and timing information to try each target beam in thesequence of target beams. The operations 1100 also include, at 1104,attempting to communicate with the network entity using one or more ofthe target beams according to the timing information, in response to abeam failure.

The methods disclosed herein comprise one or more steps or actions forachieving the described method. The method steps and/or actions may beinterchanged with one another without departing from the scope of theclaims. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions isspecified, the order and/or use of specific steps and/or actions may bemodified without departing from the scope of the claims.

As used herein, a phrase referring to “at least one of” a list of itemsrefers to any combination of those items, including single members. Asan example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intended to cover a, b, c,a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c, as well as any combination with multiples ofthe same element (e.g., a-a, a-a-a, a-a-b, a-a-c, a-b-b, a-c-c, b-b,b-b-b, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c-c or any other ordering of a, b, and c).

As used herein, the term “determining” encompasses a wide variety ofactions. For example, “determining” may include calculating, computing,processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in atable, a database or another data structure), ascertaining and the like.Also, “determining” may include receiving (e.g., receiving information),accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory) and the like. Also,“determining” may include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishingand the like.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in theart to practice the various aspects described herein. Variousmodifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilledin the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied toother aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to theaspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistentwith the language claims, wherein reference to an element in thesingular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specificallyso stated, but rather “one or more.” Unless specifically statedotherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. All structural andfunctional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects describedthroughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known tothose of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein byreference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover,nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the publicregardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in theclaims. No claim element is to be construed under the provisions of 35U.S.C. § 112, sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recitedusing the phrase “means for” or, in the case of a method claim, theelement is recited using the phrase “step for.”

The various operations of methods described above may be performed byany suitable means capable of performing the corresponding functions.The means may include various hardware and/or software component(s)and/or module(s), including, but not limited to a circuit, anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or processor. Generally,where there are operations illustrated in figures, those operations mayhave corresponding counterpart means-plus-function components withsimilar numbering.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules and circuits describedin connection with the present disclosure may be implemented orperformed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor(DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD),discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or anycombination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein.A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in thealternative, the processor may be any commercially available processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combinationof a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one ormore microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration.

If implemented in hardware, an example hardware configuration maycomprise a processing system in a wireless node. The processing systemmay be implemented with a bus architecture. The bus may include anynumber of interconnecting buses and bridges depending on the specificapplication of the processing system and the overall design constraints.The bus may link together various circuits including a processor,machine-readable media, and a bus interface. The bus interface may beused to connect a network adapter, among other things, to the processingsystem via the bus. The network adapter may be used to implement thesignal processing functions of the PHY layer. In the case of a userterminal 120 (see FIG. 1), a user interface (e.g., keypad, display,mouse, joystick, etc.) may also be connected to the bus. The bus mayalso link various other circuits such as timing sources, peripherals,voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which arewell known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further.The processor may be implemented with one or more general-purpose and/orspecial-purpose processors. Examples include microprocessors,microcontrollers, DSP processors, and other circuitry that can executesoftware. Those skilled in the art will recognize how best to implementthe described functionality for the processing system depending on theparticular application and the overall design constraints imposed on theoverall system.

If implemented in software, the functions may be stored or transmittedover as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium.Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, data, or anycombination thereof, whether referred to as software, firmware,middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.Computer-readable media include both computer storage media andcommunication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of acomputer program from one place to another. The processor may beresponsible for managing the bus and general processing, including theexecution of software modules stored on the machine-readable storagemedia. A computer-readable storage medium may be coupled to a processorsuch that the processor can read information from, and write informationto, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may beintegral to the processor. By way of example, the machine-readable mediamay include a transmission line, a carrier wave modulated by data,and/or a computer readable storage medium with instructions storedthereon separate from the wireless node, all of which may be accessed bythe processor through the bus interface. Alternatively, or in addition,the machine-readable media, or any portion thereof, may be integratedinto the processor, such as the case may be with cache and/or generalregister files. Examples of machine-readable storage media may include,by way of example, RAM (Random Access Memory), flash memory, ROM (ReadOnly Memory), PROM (Programmable Read-Only Memory), EPROM (ErasableProgrammable Read-Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically ErasableProgrammable Read-Only Memory), registers, magnetic disks, opticaldisks, hard drives, or any other suitable storage medium, or anycombination thereof. The machine-readable media may be embodied in acomputer-program product.

A software module may comprise a single instruction, or manyinstructions, and may be distributed over several different codesegments, among different programs, and across multiple storage media.The computer-readable media may comprise a number of software modules.The software modules include instructions that, when executed by anapparatus such as a processor, cause the processing system to performvarious functions. The software modules may include a transmissionmodule and a receiving module. Each software module may reside in asingle storage device or be distributed across multiple storage devices.By way of example, a software module may be loaded into RAM from a harddrive when a triggering event occurs. During execution of the softwaremodule, the processor may load some of the instructions into cache toincrease access speed. One or more cache lines may then be loaded into ageneral register file for execution by the processor. When referring tothe functionality of a software module below, it will be understood thatsuch functionality is implemented by the processor when executinginstructions from that software module.

Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. Forexample, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or otherremote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair,digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared(IR), radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable,twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, andmicrowave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, asused herein, include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc,digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray® disc where disksusually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce dataoptically with lasers. Thus, in some aspects computer-readable media maycomprise non-transitory computer-readable media (e.g., tangible media).In addition, for other aspects computer-readable media may comprisetransitory computer-readable media (e.g., a signal). Combinations of theabove should also be included within the scope of computer-readablemedia.

Thus, certain aspects may comprise a computer program product forperforming the operations presented herein. For example, such a computerprogram product may comprise a computer-readable medium havinginstructions stored (and/or encoded) thereon, the instructions beingexecutable by one or more processors to perform the operations describedherein. For example, instructions for perform the operations describedherein and illustrated in FIGS. 10-12.

Further, it should be appreciated that modules and/or other appropriatemeans for performing the methods and techniques described herein can bedownloaded and/or otherwise obtained by a user terminal and/or basestation as applicable. For example, such a device can be coupled to aserver to facilitate the transfer of means for performing the methodsdescribed herein. Alternatively, various methods described herein can beprovided via storage means (e.g., RAM, ROM, a physical storage mediumsuch as a compact disc (CD) or floppy disk, etc.), such that a userterminal and/or base station can obtain the various methods uponcoupling or providing the storage means to the device. Moreover, anyother suitable technique for providing the methods and techniquesdescribed herein to a device can be utilized.

It is to be understood that the claims are not limited to the preciseconfiguration and components illustrated above. Various modifications,changes and variations may be made in the arrangement, operation anddetails of the methods and apparatus described above without departingfrom the scope of the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for wireless communications by a networkentity comprising: providing configuration information to a userequipment (UE) indicating a sequence of target beams and timinginformation to try each target beam in the sequence of target beams; andattempting to communicate with the UE using one or more of the targetbeams according to the timing information, in response to a beam failurethat includes failing to receive an acknowledgement from the UE of abeam switch signal sent by the network entity.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the network entity provides the configuration information in thebeam switch signal.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:communicating using at least one target beam from the sequence of targetbeams indicated in the configuration information.
 4. The method of claim1, further comprising: configuring the UE to generate a measurementreport.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: communicatingusing at least one target beam from the sequence of target beams basedon a measurement report received from the UE.
 6. The method of claim 5,wherein the measurement report comprises at least a beam referencesignal that indicates a received power of one or more beam pairs.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the timing information includes one or moredifferent timers after an expiration of which the UE will start ascheduling request (SR) or random access channel (RACH) procedure forbeam recovery.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the timing informationindicates specific times to try each target beam.
 9. The method of claim1, wherein the network entity is a NodeB.
 10. A method for wirelesscommunication by a user equipment (UE) comprising: receivingconfiguration information from a network entity indicating a sequence oftarget beams and timing information to try each target beam in thesequence of target beams; and attempting to communicate with the networkentity using one or more of the target beams according to the timinginformation, in response to a timer expiring that indicates a beamfailure where an acknowledgement from the UE of a beam switch signalfailed to reach the network entity.
 11. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising: transmitting a configuration information acknowledgement tothe network entity that the configuration information was received. 12.The method of claim 10, wherein attempting to communicate comprises:generating a measurement report based on received transmissions; andtransmitting the measurement report to the network entity.
 13. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the measurement report comprises at least abeam reference signal that indicates a received power of one or morebeam pairs.
 14. The method of claim 10, wherein the timing informationfor each target beam to try each target beam includes one or moredifferent timers after an expiration of which the UE will start ascheduling request (SR) or random access channel (RACH) procedure forbeam recovery.
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein the timinginformation indicates specific times to try each target beam.
 16. Anapparatus for wireless communications by a network entity comprising: aprocessor configured to: provide configuration information to a userequipment (UE) indicating a sequence of target beams and timinginformation to try each target beam in the sequence of target beams; andattempt to communicate with the UE using one or more of the target beamsaccording to the timing information, in response to a beam failure thatincludes failing to receive an acknowledgement from the UE of a beamswitch signal sent by the network entity; and a memory coupled to theprocessor.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the network entityprovides the configuration information in the beam switch signal. 18.The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configuredto communicate using at least one target beam from the sequence oftarget beams indicated in the configuration information.
 19. Theapparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured toconfigure the UE to generate a measurement report.
 20. The apparatus ofclaim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to communicateusing at least one target beam from the sequence of target beams basedon a measurement report received from the UE.
 21. The apparatus of claim20, wherein the measurement report comprises at least a beam referencesignal that indicates a received power of one or more beam pairs. 22.The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the timing information includes oneor more different timers after an expiration of which the UE will starta scheduling request (SR) or random access channel (RACH) procedure forbeam recovery.
 23. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the timinginformation indicates specific times to try each target beam.
 24. Theapparatus of claim 16, wherein the network entity is a NodeB.
 25. Anapparatus for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE)comprising: a processor configured to: receive configuration informationfrom a network entity indicating a sequence of target beams and timinginformation to try each target beam in the sequence of target beams; andattempt to communicate with the network entity using one or more of thetarget beams according to the timing information, in response to a timerexpiring that indicates a beam failure where an acknowledgement from theUE of a beam switch signal failed to reach the network entity; and amemory coupled to the processor.
 26. The apparatus of claim 25, whereinthe processor is further configured to transmit a configurationinformation acknowledgement to the network entity that the configurationinformation was received.
 27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein theprocessor is further configured to attempt to communicate by: generatinga measurement report based on received transmissions; and transmittingthe measurement report to the network entity.
 28. The apparatus of claim27, wherein the measurement report comprises at least a beam referencesignal that indicates a received power of one or more beam pairs. 29.The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the timing information for eachtarget beam to try each target beam includes one or more differenttimers after an expiration of which the UE will start a schedulingrequest (SR) or random access channel (RACH) procedure for beamrecovery.
 30. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the timing informationindicates specific times to try each target beam.